Happy Anniversary
by what do we do now
Summary: On his wedding anniversary, Lucius Malfoy was finally given the answer to his question, after four years of waiting in the dark. AU


**Happy Anniversary**

Had Narcissa been alive, today would have been our 23rd wedding anniversary.

It was a little over four years since the Second War, deemed as the Great Battle by the younger generation, had been fought, and more importantly, finished. The light side had won, and the dark side had lost. There has always been speculation as to which side I was on; truth be told, I barely knew myself.

I should have been dead. I had no real purpose or meaning. But I wasn't dead; which was why I was once again stood here, at the annual gala function, held every year by the Ministry of Magic. That's when I saw her. She had returned after four years. She was the one who saved me. I should have been dead.

She walked in over an hour after the gala had started. Immediately, she caught the attention of everyone stood or sat in the room. She walked confidently down the many steps that led from the entrance of the ball room, to the main floor. She was dressed elegantly, in a long, silk, blue dress, a bold choice for a Gryffindor. Her face had a certain glow about it; though even from my distance, I could tell she scarcely wore no make-up. Her hair had changed over the years. Once it was the subject of people's jokes and laughter, but now, as it fell down her back in long, thick, chocolate curls, it was easily the most envied hair in all of the room. Though she was never beautiful in her childhood, and had not yet reached that particular description upon becoming an adult, she had a way of drawing the eyes of everyone; making them stare in awe at her mastered grace.

Immediately, as she reached the bottom step of the staircase, her friends began to surround her.

She was engulfed in hugs, as I watched.

She laughed with her friends, as I watched.

She returned to her old life, as I watched.

She spotted me watching her. I was stood in the right corner of the room, an empty glass held in my hands. She inclined her head slightly, before one of her friends drug her off into the middle of the room. I hadn't seen her in four years; yet neither had her friends. They wanted to talk to her just as much as I did; though we had different reasons. They wanted to catch up with her, see how she had been doing. I wanted answers. I needed answers.

The night seemed to pass in a blur. Three hours had gone since she had walked back into my life. I was still stood in the right corner. The glass I previously held was now set down on the floor beside me, as I had no inclination to move. As far as I was aware, she was the only one who had spotted me. I don't know why I came to these stupid things anymore. Usually Narcissa was the one who wanted to come to these functions. I would have been happy sat at home. I suppose she was my new reason for continually going to all the lavish ball's, and gala's. I suppose I was waiting for her to return. I needed answers from her. The night seemed to pass in a blur.

Straight away, I saw her as she made her approach towards me. She was carrying two glasses of what looked to be firewhiskey. I had only had one drink so far.

"Your glass appears to be empty," she said once she stood only two feet away from me.

She offered me the glass, and I took it from her with no words of thanks.

"Why did you choose to save me?" I asked abruptly, knowing this very conversation was the reason she had walked over to me.

"What makes you so sure I saved you?" she replied with a question. "Maybe I sentenced you to a punishment worse than death by ensuring that you survive a war, which you lost; a war which you fought in for almost two decades."

"You are not nearly that vindictive Miss Granger."

"War changes people, Mr Malfoy."

I smirked.

She twirled the drink around in her hand, never breaking eye contact with me.

She was much more confident than I remembered her.

The difference was she used to be a girl, now she was a woman.

Neither of us had yet drunk the beverage in our hands.

"I killed people in the war," she spoke. "Something I swore I would never do. But I like to justify my actions, by knowing that I only caused death, in a way of self defence. It was either them or me. Surprisingly enough, I chose myself." She stared at me intently, as if she were trying to figure out some dark hidden secret from within my soul. "There's a fine line between killing a man when you're both fighting for opposite sides in a battle, and leaving a dying man, whose wand is not even drawn."

I remained silent after her declaration.

She smirked at me as I had done to her not only moments ago.

"You are wrong about your opinion of me," she stated. "I knew Narcissa was dead when I found you, and yes, I could have left you to rot, but I chose to heal you. So I am vindictive, because I wanted you to suffer. I wanted you to live in a world which you fought so hard to stop being run the way it is. I wanted you to live your life without the woman that you loved. Technically, I did save you because I didn't kill you, but I also damned you to spend the rest of your pitiful life in something I'm sure you would describe as pure torture."

Her smirk widened.

She lifted up her glass slightly so that it was in line with her shoulder. She tipped it slightly towards me as she nodded her head, before throwing the contents down her throat in one mouthful. She shuddered. She handed the glass back to me, and I accepted it with a stony silence. She spun around and started to walk away, before stopping and turning back to say one final thing to me,

"Happy Anniversary."


End file.
